Jennifer Knittel

Considering the characteristics of different generations was helpful in understanding part of the challenge in communicating in an online classroom environment, as wel as considerations for why these challenges exist. In addition, it is helpful to remember to model what is expected and reach out to students who are not participating.

The idea of clearly communicating expectations for all aspects of communication is a major take away from this section. It is important that students not only understand what tools will be used to communicate, but also when communication will occur and what it will look like. Establishing a Communication Code of Conduct is a great idea for any classroom. I also appreciated the idea of using a rubric to show how communication on discussion boards will be scored.

Two really helpful take aways from this module are the idea that using too many tools can hinder communication and that evaluation of the tools being used should be both formative and summative. I work as an instructional coach and am developing PD to help teachers reflect on the tools that they used when we had to transition to remote learning very quickly because of the Covid 19 shut down and how those tools can continue to be used in their classrooms. Both of these ideas are helpful for me in shaping how that PD could look.